


captain, first mate, next of kin

by sorbetcafe



Category: Hoshi no Kaabii | Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Kirby (Video Games)
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Sibling Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:02:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23227543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sorbetcafe/pseuds/sorbetcafe
Summary: a child, a revolter, a right hand man and a kingeverything from the start and inbetween
Relationships: Bandana Waddle Dee & Sailor Waddle Dee, Meta Knight & Sailor Waddle Dee
Kudos: 32





	captain, first mate, next of kin

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to my fucked up kirby lore, enjoy your stay

Revolution.  
  
Revolution is never pretty. Never brings with it the things that it needs to, not fast enough to benefit all those who roam the planet now.  
  
Never treats a child like a child.  
  
And while Meta Knight, the mysterious and quiet right hand man of tyrant Dedede needed a revolution, he was determined to not let anyone suffer injustice on his part.  
  
When the time is right and the final hour of Meta Knight’s employment strikes, he simply absconds into the night. No words, no sounds, just him and Galaxia leaving with not a single clue as to where.  
  
For a while, the town is uproarious. Meta Knight knows this, as his fellow knightly friends would relay to him without ever ratting him out, which he appreciates. They mention Dedede scouring high and low for a sign that Meta even existed in the first place, and only when they checked the house he meticulously emptied to look eternally vacant did they give up.  
  
Meta Knight thanks his pals and closes his phone, setting to work. It wasn’t easy to recruit folks and expect them to throw away their way of living, especially when it was all they knew. Nonetheless, one by one forces from Dedede’s castle would approach him and ask to help take down the king.  
  
For a while Meta Knight simply allows his allies to grow as he fixes up his old crashed ship from eons ago. News luckily traveled fast and light, never once sparking concern from the monarchy. With the help of the assembled resistance, repairs went quicker than he could ever imagine and he was immensely grateful, even if it was difficult for him to express it. Before long, the Halberd was once rising into the sky, and it was finally time for planning an assault.  
  
As everyone boards the ship for the first time, the star warrior stands at the entrance and mentally counts everyone with a nod of thanks. Everyone was accounted for, all 48. Meta Knight closes his eyes briefly and takes a deep breath. Right. It was time for all of this to start it’s first modicum of a beginning.  
  
In collecting himself before take off, he almost misses the pitter patter of a new set of timid paws making their way up the loading dock. Almost. If the plan was to surprise the knight though, they failed on both counts of being too loud, and by tugging on his cape. Ah, well. Whatever. It would be forgiven and reforged should this be a new recruit. Meta Knight opens his eyes…  
  
A child with determined eyes stands in front of him. Dumbfounded, he takes a quick step back, only for the small kid to follow behind. Lost for better words, Meta simply says, “This is no place for children.” The kid shakes their head, the sailor hat that’s perched upon their head twisting slightly.  
  
“I’m here to fight,” they say in a high voice that Meta is sure would be cute in any other circumstance. The Waddle Dee keeps their eyes trained on him, hardened by something he’s not quite able to discern. Either way, Meta Knight simply shakes his head.  
  
“This is no place for children,” he repeats. “You must return home, little one.” They shake their head more, and Meta is almost certain he sees tears starting to form in their eyes.  
  
“I don’t have a home anymore!” they cry, once again catching the adult off guard. He becomes serious, worried.  
  
“Is the king responsible for this?” He asks, anger most likely seeping into his tone. It wasn’t unlike Dedede to ruin the lives of others, unknowingly or otherwise, but to displace a seemingly parentless kid was pushing it even for him. The child looks away for the first time, some haunted thing overshadowing them for a moment before slowly turning back towards the warrior.  
  
“Something like that,” they annunciate without elaborating. “I just need to take him down a peg! That’s what you and your friends are doing, right?” and oh, if only it were that simple.   
  
Meta Knight calms himself and lets his posture settle again. This was something he wasn’t entirely prepared for, but something he would have to do nonetheless. After all, he couldn’t just send this poor kid away just for them to go who knows where and get hurt by who knows what. No, Meta Knight would have to do something whether he wanted to or not. Injustice made his skin crawl and he refused to sit by idly, even if it was dangerous.  
  
After a small stare off, the star warrior sighs. “What is your name, child?” A sparkle enters their eyes as they answer.  
  
“I’m Saildee! It’s what my si— uhm, what my friends called me!” Meta Knight quirks an unseen eyebrow at the slip, but doesn’t pry. If they didn’t want to say, that was perfectly fine.  
  
Meta takes one last overlook at them before gesturing to the door. “Come on then, Saildee. We can’t exactly ‘knock the king down a peg’ out here.” Saildee’s eyes crinkle in a way reminiscent of a smile, bright, and they run ahead inside the Halberd.  
  
Nova help him, this was going to be a tough one.  
  


* * *

  
  
All creatures on Popstar aged and matured differently. For example, Meta Knight himself had been around for more years than he could properly count, yet he was still considerably young and spry for his species. Others, comparatively, would seemingly age faster than it took Meta Knight to blink.  
  
Over the year of vigorous planning and training with all the recruits Saildee grows exponentially faster than Meta had thought they would. He’d seen waddle dees age before of course, the king’s army was full of them, but to actually be around and involved with one as they rapidly grew was something else entirely.  
  
Saildee was smart and a fast learner, which Meta Knight was both very happy and very afraid about. While they were still a child, Meta did everything within his power to keep them away from training and keep the room they stayed in relatively weapon free. The only weapon they’d ever seen on board the Halberd for the longest was undoubtedly the star warrior’s trusted sword Galaxia.  
  
(There’s exactly one time Meta Knight catches Saildee waving a blade around, claiming to practice for the upcoming battle, and he’s quick to nip that in the bud.  
  
“You mustn't play with swords,” he says, quickly and carefully plucking it from Saildee’s paws and moving to return it to its proper place. The child groaned angrily.  
  
“How am I supposed to fight with you and everyone else if I don’t know anything about fighting?!” Saildee demands, stomping a bit. There are tears beginning to form in the corner of their eyes. “How am I supposed to save my—“  
  
They stop abruptly, and just like that any and all fight leaves them. They slide down until they’re sat on the floor.  
  
“Nevermind.” They sound dejected and Meta Knight can see their tears flow freely and silently. “I don’t wanna train anymore.” They’re sniffling. Meta watches them for a moment before sighing. He takes the couple of steps he needs to bridge the gap between them and pats them on the head.  
  
“Come,” he says, hushed. “It’s late. Let’s get you to bed.”  
  
Saildee looks put out for a moment, unsure, but Meta Knight opens his arms and they’re quick to fill them.  
  
It’s a little awkward, but Meta is able to hoist Saildee up in a way that gives him enough leeway to see in front of him. By the time they make it back to their shared room, Saildee is fast asleep.)  
  
By the time the Waddle Dee is a teen of sorts, months have passed. Their vocabulary now begins to mirror the warrior’s and they only sometimes request for the night light to be turned on. They spend most of their time watching the soldiers spar and prepare wistfully, as Meta Knight refuses to let them join. Not yet, at least. It may not be ideal, but he refused to let a child participate in the adult fights.  
  
(One day, as he passes by them looking through the window with an odd expression on their face, he’s decided they’ve waited long enough. He pats them gingerly on the head for attention, and asks, “Do you think you could handle me in a battle?”  
  
They freeze and look away, unprepared for the question. Even with age they’d still retained a bit of a shy personality. Meta Knight’s almost sure the first and last time he saw them be really bold was when they’d first met.  
  
After a good moment of just staring at the floor, Saildee finally looks back up at Meta and nods with a mischievous look in their eyes. A hidden smile graces the warrior’s face.  
  
“Let’s see what you can do then!” he says, a bit haughty. He beacons them to an empty sparring room and tosses a practice sword towards them once they catch up. The waddle dee waits for it to clatter to the ground before lifting it.  
  
“Really?” they huff, still catching their breath. Meta Knight was gonna have to start building up their stamina soon. Either way, he nods and drops into an offensive stance, brandishing his own practice sword. Looking a little panicked at the sudden shift, Saildee mimics the warrior, holding their weapon awkwardly.  
  
“Lesson one!” Meta Knight shouts, breaking out in a run and beginning to close the distance between them, “Never be caught off guard!”  
  
Meta shoots behind them before they get the chance to do much of anything, and taps them on the back with his sword. They spin to face him, weapon forgotten and eyes shimmering. It catches Meta Knight off guard, surprised.  
  
“Wow!” Saildee exclaims, paws grasping at their face. “That was amazing! How’d you go so fast? I wanna move like that!” They seemed enamoured with his speed, which was good. It meant they had the drive to get just as fast as him. However, it wasn’t exactly the lesson he meant to teach.  
  
“I can teach you all about being fast later,” he says in lieu of an answer. “For now, we’ve got to get you more accustomed to your weapon. Now,” Meta Knight picks up Saildee’s discarded weapon and hands it to them before facing them away from him. He pushes them down a bit and they let him guide them into the proper offensive stance.  
  
“Lesson two. This is how you should stand when engaging in battle. And this,” he fixes their hold on the sword, “is how you should hold your blade.” Saildee hums.  
  
“Shouldn’t this have been lesson one?” Meta Knight is quiet for a moment, and then he chuckles.  
  
“Perhaps.”)  
  
Then, before he knows it, it’s time to attack. Plans have been drawn and calculated, and the resistance members are itching to overthrow the monarchy.  
  
Saildee is now grown, for Waddle Dee standards at least, and fights as well as any other trained soldier. Meta Knight is proud, but also worried.  
  
Revolution begins anytime now, on his signal. He’s prepared, everyone is, but still at the sight of the little Waddle Dee training, very well he might add, he hesitates. Grown they may be, but it’s hard for Meta to give the signal when he knows the child he raised for a year now will be somewhere in the fray.  
  
(It’s difficult, but one night, about a week after Meta Knight had originally planned to attack, Saildee finds him brooding over a map of the kingdom Dedede still reigned over. There’s pins and figures everywhere, marking this, that and the third.  
  
Meta scoots over a bit, making room for them to join him at the table. They waddle over and watch both him and the sprawling map for a silent moment before speaking.  
  
“You seem prepared for this,” they say, something playful edging their tone. Meta Knight can’t seem to find it in him to reciprocate.  
  
“I am.” He’s nearly monotone in his response. All too late, he realizes perhaps it was a bit too harsh. Saildee’s posture changes and they don’t reply. The both of them stand there until Meta Knight takes the initiative to speak again.  
  
“Little one,” he starts, and he can see out of the corner of his eye that their cheeks puff a bit at the sentiment, “what are you in this war for?”  
  
Saildee looks caught off guard, unexpecting of the question. They clear their throat before simply saying, “There’s someone I need to save.” Meta Knight nods, a small, somber smile gracing his features.  
  
“That’s very noble of you.” Saildee simply hums  
  
“I just want to see them again.” They don’t elaborate further, and Meta is distinctly and suddenly reminded of their first meeting. It’s been such a short amount of time, and yet, this was it. The warrior could no longer justify being selfish.  
  
“Go, get some rest,” he says, patting them on the head. They look up at him, confused. “We strike tomorrow.” Determination immediately floods Saildee’s eyes, and they nod.  
  
“Goodnight, Meta Knight.” They begin to leave, but double back to give the warrior a quick hug. Though he’s not really the type, Meta Knight hugs them back.   
  
“Goodnight, Saildee.” He doesn’t think about how this may be the last time he gets to say it.)  
  
  


* * *

  
  
Everything was happening at once.  
  
The initial plan, strike quietly and concisely, was a failure. Even with the intricate planning Meta Knight had done, he didn’t account for retaliation in the sky. Cannons that were not there a year ago and went undiscovered by scouts shoot the Halberd down before they can even attack proper, and it crashes bow first into the castle.  
  
Once they gain their footing, the soldiers disperse upon Meta Knight’s command, instructed to fight but not to the death. Hold prisoner any lackies and disarm them immediately. The captain (and Saildee, who had appointed themself to go with him) would be headed straight for the throne room, dispatching anyone he came across along the way.  
  
Though things were quite the mess, it wasn’t hard to blaze through the many Waddle Doos and Dees that always stood at the front lines. Saildee was proving themself very well, nearly taking out an enemy for every one that Meta Knight did. He wasn’t entirely sure why the little dee wanted to follow him to the king’s quarters, besides maybe personal satisfaction, but it didn’t matter much at the moment. The extra help was greatly appreciated.  
  
Making their way past the increasingly bigger and more threatening fighters took a lot more than the initial wave, but perseverance won out in the end. Soon, it was just Meta Knight, Saildee, and a room with a lone door that stood ahead of them. It was brightly lit yet completely empty.  
  
“Well,” Saildee puffs, putting their sword away, “after all that, this was a little anticlimactic.” Meta Knight silently agrees and sheaths his own sword, but is all the same wary.  
  
This room, serving as the antichamber between the rest of the castle and the throne room, was normally filled with obnoxious statues and other paraphernalia of Dedede. Now it was here, bright lights boring down, yet void of everything? Meta couldn’t tell what it was exactly but… everything about it felt off.  
  
“Meta Knight,” Saildee says, hushed, interrupting Meta’s scrutinizing of the room, “something’s coming.” And, true to their word, there’s a small click of the door opening, and out steps…  
  
A child.  
  
A round, pink and rosy cheeked child.  
  
“Hi!” they greet, door closing behind them. “I’m Kirby! Who’re you?”  
  
Meta Knight and Saildee look at each other, back at the new arrival, and then back at each other. This was something more than just unsuspected. This was quite literally unthinkable.  
  
Dedede was a tyrant, a vain man, and someone who sought means to an ends, even if it was something stupid. But this… this was new. He’d never sent a child to fight for him before.   
  
“Is this the person you were looking for?” Meta Knight asks Saildee quietly. The waddle dee shakes their head, looking dumbfounded.  
  
“What was that?” the child, Kirby, asks, still across the room. “Can you speak up?” Meta Knight awkwardly clears his throat.  
  
“We’re… friends of the king,” he fibs, loud and clear. “We’re here to make sure he’s okay.” Saildee nods next to him. Kirby tilts their head.  
  
“Huh? That can’t be right. Dedede told me there was a fight happening and everyone was already here! No more friends were supposed to be coming!” Kirby walks closer to the intruding pair and takes a long look at them. “Could it be… that you’re lying to me?” Their face becomes puffed, frowning. “That’s not nice! Not at all!”  
  
Under normal circumstances, Meta Knight would refuse to fight. An unarmed child against two trained adults? Unfair at best and downright cruel at worst. But before he can even think about asking a truce, the puffball has begun to run over to them.  
  
“Saildee!” he calls, trying to warn them as he quickly uses his hidden wings to fly back and up into the air. He unsheathes his sword, readying a defence, when he notices Kirby open their mouth and… inhale?  
  
Saildee also has their weapon at the ready, but it slips out of their paw with the force of Kirby’s move. Into their mouth it goes. It’s a horrifying display for just a moment, and then Kirby does… something that has the sword harmlessly popping out of them and landing blade first into the floor. Meta would take more curicoty in it, if it weren’t for the fact the child now has a perfect mirror of Saildee’s sword in their hands, complete with a (completely different) hat of their own.  
  
“En guard!” Kirby shouts, lunging towards Saildee. Quicker than them, Meta Knight swoops down and picks Saildee up. Kirby’s attack hits empty air and they fumble a bit after.  
  
The winged warrior drops his companion next to their sword and doubles back. Saildee retrieves their buried sword just as Kirby recovers from their initial attack. Without hesitance they start a new dash attack and Meta Knight is forced to think fast.  
  
Fighting someone this young was immoral and unjust normally, but…   
  
Kirby is clumsy, but seems to know their way around the weapon they wield. It’s cutting it a bit close, but perhaps just this once a means to an end can be justified.  
  
“Incapacitate them!” Meta Knight yells as the two of them dodge another straight attack. “We just have to make it to Dedede!” He considered just blazing past and leaving Kirby to catch up, but that wouldn’t fly. It would leave their backs open to attack, not to mention give the king another advantage over them. They were already hard pressed as it was, they didn’t need anything extra getting in their way.  
  
Saildee dodges past the oncoming attack before looking back at the warrior, surprised. “What?” Meta Knight shouts back as he goes in for a jab of his own.  
  
“Just trust me!” The Waddle Dee pauses for just a second, and then nods.  
  
“Alright!”  
  
Finding a balance was difficult. Neither of them are getting more than pot shots in, anything more would most likely seriously hurt the child. Saildee strikes from below, and Meta Knight from above. The battle drags on for minutes like this.  
  
It wasn’t exactly easy, but eventually Kirby gets slower and slower. The two intruders continue to whittle the puffball down until they collapse and don't get back up.   
  
For a moment, Meta Knight is afraid they’ve done more harm than intended, but then he catches the deep breathing of someone who has fallen asleep from them. It was a bit unnerving, seeing someone who could and would fall into a deep slumber right after being bested, but it sure did save them some trouble. There would be no more obstacles blocking their way to dethroning the king.  
  
“Okay,” Saildee says, catching their breath from the skirmish, “that was a surprise.” Meta lands next to them and makes a noise of agreement. “I’m guessing that was Dedede’s last line of defence. A dirty trick, but what’s new?” There’s a certain venom in their voice, and again Meta finds himself wondering the full history of what happened between them and the king.  
  
He supposes it didn’t matter much in the moment though.  
  
Kirby resting soundly behind them, the two soldiers readied themselves for the upcoming fight one last time. This was it.  
  
“Prepare yourself.”  
  
Right as the star warrior begins reaching for the door, Saildee rushes out, “Meta Knight, wait. I need to tell you something.” Meta pulls his hand back and faces the short dee who has shrinked in on themself a bit.  
  
“Yes?” He makes sure to ask in a soft way, or at least the softest he can manage at such a pivotal moment.  
  
“There’s going to be two people in there. One is Dedede obviously, but the other is very important to me. Please let me handle them.” The pleading tone is almost too much, what with their face already doing half the work. Meta Knight simply nods.  
  
“Very well. I’ll get the king, you get the other one.” Relief floods Saildee’s face.  
  
“Alright then. I’m ready.”


End file.
